After a day spent being forced to watch Boris Johnson steal the limelight, David Cameron celebrated his 46th birthday in a style suited to the we're-all-in-this-together austerity years: a quiet dinner with his wife, Samantha, at the Diwan Balti restaurant in Birmingham.
"I'm looking forward to Samantha coming back to Birmingham and I'm hoping she's going to take me out for a balti," he told BBC Breakfast yesterday morning."
He insisted the presence of the London Mayor was certainly not going to spoil his day, saying it would give him a bit of spare time as "Boris has so much to say".
Cameron will be hoping to steal back some of the limelight today with his own keynote leader's speech, which marks the end of the four-day Tory Party conference. With the success of both Labour leader Ed Miliband's performance in mind as well as that of "rock star" Boris still ringing in the ears of the Tory faithful, it may be a tall order.
